Louise Dear’s first collection of 5 artworks, published by Washington Green Fine Art Publishers, has caused quite a reaction, turning heads in many a gallery window & indeed in the home of buyers. Her beautiful multicoloured, hand layered art work has shone a ray of light onto the UK art scene.

â€˜Yum Yumâ€™ by Louise Dear
(Limited edition box canvas)

Louiseâ€™s inspiration comes from her extensive travels throughout the world during her youth, from Europe to Asia and beyond. Her beautiful pictures draw the eye with wonderful colours, bold outlined figures & large floral designs, as well as the sultry poses of her subjects, which are either self-portraits or pictures of her daughter, Lama.

â€˜Crush IIâ€™ by Louise Dear
(Limited edition box canvas)

I love the varying array of colours that she uses, they are vibrant and a lot different from those usually seen in high street galleries; at the same time they are not gaudy or over the top. How would one describe the work?: Figurative, urban, contemporary? I guess that is up to the viewer but there is something that grips the viewer, a style and a vision that is communicated through these evocative images.

Louise says that many women respond to her artwork and the message within them â€“ that women enjoy their sexuality and are in control & she tells us that men also buy her artwork, as it reminds them of their partner. The artist tells us: â€˜My pictures are about women feeling lush and gorgeous and free and I think a lot of women who buy my paintings can relate to that.â€™

â€˜Lovelyâ€™ by Louise Dear
(Limited edition on paper)

By not adding too much detail to her subjects, Louise makes her figures stand out & their poses all the more seductive and alluring. The artist believes that less is more & her figures and faces are only really outlined with the use of black & then these are cleverly sited onto the backgrounds. Louise then accentuates the figures with large and eyes & lips or masses of flowing hair.

â€˜Coo…ee!â€™ by Louise Dear
(Limited edition on paper)

Louise is one of Fine Art Blog’s hot picks for success in 2010, keep doing what you’re doing Louise, because it’s absolutely gorgeous.

The other piece not featured that is also in the collection is ‘Crush I’

Simon Claridge knew he wanted to be an artist since he was very young. He claims to be extremely grateful to his college where he developed his artistic skills immeasurably in draftsmanship. When asked what he wanted to do when he grew up he always said he wanted to be an artist! Simon finally left his education with a BA in Fine Art at the University of Reading.

Blondie by Simon Claridge

From that time, he still wanted nothing else but to become an artist and painted whenever he had the chance. He says that he could not, and still cannot, imagine a life where he would not be an artist. His art quickly became popular with the public, he gained a large fan base, and was published by Washington Green.

Kate by Simon Claridge

Claridge claims to love the human form and his art does reflect this. The inspiration for these six pieces are celebrity women, including Twiggy, Kate Moss and Blondie. Simon uses Acrylic paint to achieve his look, topped off with ‘diamond dust’ (also the name of his new collection), which really makes the art look unique. These images of celebrities are not new, but the way he has captured them is very clever; they show you how the modern meets the classic. Using old retro style white frames, it gives a classic feel to the art overall.

Monroe by Simon Claridge

Simon has experimented with different art in the past, always coming up with something new and exciting, but I believe that this new style is going to be his most popular yet. This style could easily be continued with other celebrities, perhaps male celebrities next? and I’ll bet that the celebs are queuing up for the opportunity to be painted in this way. The way he paints his subjects with their classic facial expressions and the innovative use of colour (monotone) makes his pictures completely unique to other current artists. In his new collection, when asked which his favourite piece is, he said that his favourite piece is “Twiggy”.

Twiggy by Simon Claridge

You really need to get yourself to a gallery and see for yourself how great these pictures look, a photo online does not do this fantastic art justice at all. The diamond dust is not visible on the pictures, and you just canâ€™t appreciate all the craftsmanship and thought that has gone into this art without looking at it face to face. I still canâ€™t believe it was painted, not computerized!!!

Well not quite but Rolf did manage to unveil a new piece of work this year at the event entitled: ‘Wimbledon Champions’ and which is now available to own as a limited edition print.

On the 15th June, a few days before the tournament, Rolf unveiled the piece himself in the presence of Martina Navratilova and Bjorn Borg, players featured in the painting and Britainâ€™s much loved former No.1 Tim Henman.

In this new work, Rolf pays tribute to 10 of the greatest Wimbledon Champions: Bjorn Borg, Steffi Graf, Billie-Jean King, Rod Laver, Suzanne Lenglen, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras and Venus Williams & of course the man who would go on to win: Roger Federer.

Again Rolf shows his versatility as an artist, showing he is just as talented with figurative portraits as any other subject matter!